


good boys go to heaven

by warofthefoxes



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Purgatory, M/M, as a wes anderson inspired hotel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-05-15 12:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19296193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warofthefoxes/pseuds/warofthefoxes
Summary: There's life and then an afterlife. This is the Middle.Mark and Donghyuck doesn't meet on Earth but gets to meet just right in between death and eternity.





	good boys go to heaven

**Author's Note:**

> this au was adapted from the filipino film 'hintayan ng langit' / 'heaven's waiting' (wc u can find on netflix!)
> 
> before we start, note that this openly talks about the concept of heaven, some religious practices and death which can be pretty morbid so read at your own risk. also do i need to mention that theyre dead here,,,,,,, hence the tag
> 
> lastly, id say dont expect this to be rly romantic 😬

The first thing Mark sees in Heaven is a mid-century lobby hall with its floor covered in bright patterned carpets. The walls are painted with murals, the lights warm yellow in color paired with big antique chandeliers brightening up the main hall. The voice from the intercom is swallowed among the clamor of the people - or souls should he call them, running about, getting to places. 

Someone bumps into Mark, then that someone's luggage rolls over his worn out pair of classic Vans making him hop back to lean against the retro style tabletop of the concierge for safety. It's nothing he expected if he did have any expectations to compare. Donghyuck said he would be helpful in his adjustment.

Mark sees him soon, coming over his way in his easy to spot all green outfit, a uniform of sorts for the 'Guardians' as he could tell from his badge that he saw earlier upon seeing him after his meeting with the Evaluator. Donghyuck is his appointed welcoming attendant. Physically, he's somewhat Mark's height and age by the looks of it. Has golden brown skin and a voice as sweet as honey when he speaks. He left to take Mark's luggage for him earlier. 

 

"Over or under?" Donghyuck asks him as he gets close enough for an earshot with him. He jerks his head to the right to indicate Mark's room directions. 

"Over?" He says, his tone more of a question. He didn't know what either of the two meant.

" _-whelmed_. I was asking if you were over or underwhelmed." 

The clamor continues, fading out as they get farther away from the main hall. "Wouldn't say any exactly." Mark says to him. "It's just that I didn't know Heaven looked like _this._ " A hotel, it looks like a hotel back in the '50s and '60s if he were to put it simply. 

 

They reach the elevators. Donghyuck presses the UP button before looking back at him for a reply. "Well, the Bible was written by people who haven't been dead yet so I doubt they knew." 

He's sure Donghyuck means well but maybe there is judgement there too. Mark can't pick it out for sure yet. "This isn't Heaven too, we call it the Middle." Donghyuck adds and it's enough for him to confirm it. 

The elevator opens up and welcomes them with its bright interior, walls painted a blood orange color from the floor up to the ceiling. They enter with the rest of the waiting passengers (souls as he should call them) who huddled up soon after them while they waited.The lift brings them up floor by floor, more people leaving as they get higher off the lobby. Donghyuck finally tells him they stop at the 17th, leading their way again once they get out. 

 

The Middle as it seems really looks like a hotel. Three point five rating with its outdated facilities but five with its overall aesthetic. Donghyuck brings Mark to the room second to the right, opening it with his key and stepping to the side to let him enter first. 

There's a single bed in the room, an old fashioned tv one with the pointed butt and a VHS player attached to it placed in his mini living area that Mark guesses is meant for visitors, if he'll ever have any. A vanity is situated on the far back beside a black wooden cabinet which might be his closet, and a pink telephone on top of it. The wallpapers are muted yellow this time with brown as an accent color matching the wooden floor. 

 

"This is where you'll be staying for the remainder of your stay here in the Middle. There's going to be a welcoming group gathering later. Be at the Grief Center when the announcement goes on. You'll know which one. It's going to be held at the 8th floor. Drink a cup of this whenever you need." Donghyuck pours a glass of orange juice from a pitcher and hands it for him to drink. He downs it in no time. It tastes nothing like orange juice.

Donghyuck fixes everything in place after, putting his luggage at the foot of the bed, straightening out the sheets as he hums a slow soft song. He stands up to look over the other area as little as there is.

Donghyuck's on his way out when Mark stops him. 

"Will you be there later? At the center..." 

Donghyuck breaks out into a smile. He's been with one since they met, a calm tight-lipped one but this time Mark sees his teeth. "I won't be. I don't really like the Center but I'll be back here a few times within the day." 

Then he leaves. 

 

The Grief Center is called as it is because it's what it is for. Mark finds himself in a support group circle for the newly arrived individuals in the Middle. Newly dead is another term Jisung likes to use for them. He's one of the kids at the Center staying there during the circle to give out orange juice as needed. Some kind of internship as he explains it. 

The orange juice is for calming the souls' (as he should call them) emotions down which is much needed in the Center as Jisung told him. Humans are volatile creatures prone to exploding from an overflow of emotions, souls should be less so apparently, less and less until the day they set foot in Heaven. As they're just new to this, new in here, their emotions are very much human. Not that Mark fully understands that concept alone.

But basically, they go around introducing themselves to one another - name, age and cause of death plus what their thoughts are about their recent passing, what's their perception of coming here so far in what one of the Guardians call as the start of their 'most fruitful adventure' yet, hinting that there's so much more up there'. The rest of the support group sends their words of acknowledgement that your story was heard once your turn is over. Then the activity ends with a small prayer led by the facilitating Guardian and a small cheer _'Joy to the world for the Heaven will come.'_ and they're off to do what they so please. 

There isn't a fixed schedule here in the Middle, Jisung tells him again before they set apart and that he better ask Donghyuck to show him things around. Jisung knows Donghyuck, he's pretty popular here he said. 

"He's the youngest Guardian, that's mostly why." 

 

Mark sees Donghyuck again when he gets back to his room. He's in the middle of folding his clothes he wore earlier readying to set it aside on top of his drawer when Mark entered the room. He doesn't get unnoticed no matter how much he thinks he's being carefully silent with his actions. 

 

"Grief period's done?" Donghyuck asks once he's done. The way he talks to Mark comes off like he's someone to be taken care of, like he needs to give respect to him more than what's necessary. Mark doesn't really settle with that _feeling_ guessing they're around the same age and just that, he's not used to it back there - on Earth or at least he thinks so. 

"Yeah." He mulls over this as he speaks. "Can you talk to me more comfortably? You don't need to treat me.." and somehow he fails to find the right words to fill the rest of his sentence.  
Donghyuck smiles at this. His shoulders begin to slack, he drops his back to Mark's bed, his knees down folded at the foot. He turns to face Mark now with a grin, a new expression Mark's sees first from him. 

"I knew you we weren't one of those teens." says Donghyuck with a relief. 

Mark thinks he knows but prods. "What kind of teen?" 

"Rich asshole who thinks I'm supposed to serve them. That kind, god, not you it's an expression" Donghyuck whispers as he looks up to the ceiling, "they reek of entitlement." 

"You've met those here?" 

Donghyuck shakes his head and groans in disgust. "Plenty." 

Mark's just a simple boy but refuses to say that out loud to avoid hearing it's corny. Johnny said it was. Not that it wasn't anywhere true but still. "Well, I'm not rich and I don't think I'm an asshole so you're lucky this time." 

"Yeah?" Donghyuck raises his eyebrow at him though, not quite buying his words. "Not rich? You? But you hang out with the rich ones." 

"I thought you weren't at the Center." He hasn't told anyone apart from everyone who was at the Center. He doesn't know anyone so far aside from Donghyuck and Jisung so he doesn't really have anyone else to tell the story of how his last day alive was.

"I wasn't. " Donghyuck is smirking at him before he decides it's enough lounging around in Mark's bed. "I have my ways of knowing things around here." He gets up and straightens out his uniform letting Mark watch as he does without words between them. 

"I know a thing about you too." That he's pretty popular here although he doesn't know to what extent and he's only heard it from Jisung who looks younger than both of them. Mark feels the silliest he's been since he arrived and yet he's told these feelings have to be toned down here. Here in the Middle.

"Anything else you need?" Donghyuck asks this time but not quite the same way he would have during their first meeting. Light, just like a friend asking before bedtime during a sleepover if sleep was part of the night's plans anyway. 

"No, nothing." Mark gets his mind going to stall Donghyuck's departure a little. "Wait, actually mind if you show me how the TV works?"

🛋

Donghyuck ends up showing him how to turn the TV on that night but couldn't teach him anything else due to his duties. Apparently he has more to do than just being Mark's welcoming attendant. 

They'll be needing his tapes too if he wants to make full use of the TV. The Middle's channel selection is nothing entertaining according to him. "Most of them are prayer channels." Donghyuck said. "You're into praying though." He followed up teasing before he left and promised to show Mark the Archives tomorrow. 

 

The Archives is a storage room containing all the tapes of every person (soul as he should call them) currently staying in the Middle. The tapes are selected records of your most significant memories when you were alive. 

"Even yours are here?" 

Donghyuck laughs at him looking fond. "Not in here. Besides you can't get them out here anyway." 

 

They continue to walk along the aisles looking for Mark's files in what seems like an endless list of souls with the same surname 'Lee'. At least 20 columns 'til they get to his. 

When Mark gets to it, it's nothing but a small single box labeled with his name, birth and death dates. The one beside his occupies almost half of the row, tapes almost overflowing in their huge boxes. He looks at it with a pang and then a little ounce of envy, finding Donghyuck looking at it too when he turns around to check on him. 

"Must have lived long." He hears him say with disdain. 

Mark couldn't say anything but a short 'Yeah' before going over through his box trying to figure out what to get only to end up bringing everything over the take-out counter. There aren't much after all. 

 

Mark's on his third tape when Donghyuck comes back to his room later that day, diving straight to his bed again with a thud and a groan too loud. 

Mark pauses his screen and offers Donghyuck his cup of orange juice which he rejects. 

"God, I hate that." He groans again before burying his face in the sheets. Mark wonders if he could smell his sweat that transferred there during his sleep the night before or if there won't be any because his sweat glands don't work anymore now that he's no longer living. 

"Didn't know you can get tired in here." He says more as an afterthought. Not sure if Donghyuck heard him until he hears him scoff. 

"You always like to speak your mind huh." Donghyuck says finally getting up to a sitting position. He stretches his arms up in the air, Mark could almost hear the sound of bones cracking inside his head as he watches him do it. Donghyuck looks at him and answers "You don't." 

He raises his brow in question. 

"Technically, you don't get tired in here. Do you?" 

He's just been here for a day and a half but no, he hasn't felt tired since. Sleep comes easier though which was only a thing for him back then whenever he's tired from school or after coming home from doing his part-time job. Or if Johnny tagged him along to do stuff. Mostly only on those days, he's able to sleep within seconds. 

"Then why are you -" 

Donghyuck snatches his remote from him and turns his video back on, blatantly ignoring Mark's unfinished question. 

"What do you have here?" Donghyuck asks him instead as he looks nowhere but towards the small screen. Mark just lets it go and drops the question to look back at the tv. 

It's one of the tapes containing his late night shifts at the convenience store. The footage showing nothing but him on the counter changing the store's music for the tenth time that hour. 

"You worked at a 24-hour shop?" Donghyuck asks pointing the screen. 

"Yeah." He replies.

"Anything exciting happening in here aside from you playing more Justin Beiber tracks? Like any shoplifting incident? Maybe robbery? A weird drunkard?" 

Mark looks at the date on the case of the tape placed atop the tv, no longer needing to squint like he usually would- the biggest benefit of Middle yet that he's found out. **_May 20, 2012_** , it says and Mark just knows. 

The footage goes on with nothing really happening. Some guy comes in and pays in the counter and then leaves immediately without saying anything. 

"Sort of." He answers with a smile. Reminiscing. "I met Johnny hyung that day." 

Donghyuck doesn't say anything at first but as the footage finally shows what Mark had just said - Johnny entering the store and Mark greeting him with the mandatory welcome slogan, he sighs. "Ah that guy." As if he's met him and knew him all his life. 

Donghyuck stops the tape and takes it out, picking one of the tapes on the box reading the date to him out loud. "August 24, 2016? This a good one?" 

Donghyuck's on his way to return it to choose another when Mark looks as if he can't put a ring to the date at all but Mark stops him before he could drop it, asks Donghyuck to put it on. 

"It's most likely a day in the store.. but who knows you might just be in one of them." He tells him, voice getting a bit giddy with the on-going thought running through his head. If Donghyuck seems to know Johnny, he might have been from around the area or might have come with Johnny one time (Johnny was friendly, very friendly) and Mark just kind of forgot they met before they even saw each other _here_. He asked Donghyuck where he lived before when they first met and he wouldn't tell him the specifics but said Mark had been in it before when he kept asking for clues. 

"Me? Why would I be in one of them? We didn't even meet back there." 

"Yeah?" Mark is brimming with his new found confidence. "I'm pretty sure I met you there." 

Donghyuck shakes his head at him and turns to his bedside to continue doing his cleaning duties instead of entertaining him and his unexplained belief. After all he's a Guardian, Donghyuck reminds him when he asks what he's doing. He's got more stuff to do than Mark who's watching old memories, trying to find what it isn't there through an old TV screen.

🛋

Mark's days in the Middle go by passively. On his first week, he comes up with a daily routine.

Not that he has planned it but it was something that he found himself doing on the daily since he arrived. Donghyuck comes around the time he wakes up and he chats with him as Donghyuck cleans up whatever's there to clean in his room. They talk about different things, music more often than not. Donghyuck seems to be pretty well-versed on 'the good ones'. He comes along with him once he's done and on his way out, taking the time to stroll around the Middle.

Donghyuck shows him one new place at a time. One because that's as much free time as he has before he's off to do more Guardian duties. Mark stays behind in whatever place Donghyuck shows him that day to kill time. Sometimes people come up to him and they have a casual talk. He hasn't seen anyone twice so far though, not enough for him to form friendships but he enjoys their company nonetheless. Sometimes he just minds himself and leaves when he feels like it. 

He went down to the Grief Center too during his third day to see if Jisung's around but learns he's been transferred to another area. He ended up meeting him on the lift coincidentally on his way back to the Archives and has met him every day since in various places - in the halls, in the lobby, in resting areas, where they get to converse a little, ten minutes at most. 

Mark goes back to the Archives on the daily too. He had requested if he could recall all the tapes from his shifts at the convenience store. The staff said it is possible but due to policies, they can only give him two at a time hence him needing to go back daily.

He's convinced himself that if he watches all of tape records of his stay there, he'll find evidence that'll prove Donghyuck wrong. That they did meet back there, back on Earth. A long shot to say the least but Mark doesn't really have much to do around in this new place. So every after his way to the Archives, he returns back to his room and plays the tapes. Donghyuck comes just around the time before the second one is over, greeting him with the same question: _"You see me there yet?"_ and Mark with his usual answer. _"Just not yet."_

 

Today's tape is another night shift which means it's a slow one. Donghyuck comes in right in the middle of his third customer that night, a little earlier and he watches the clip with him in silence as soon as he arrives, standing by the door that's only half-close. 

It's some middle aged men on his way back from work. The third customer, not Donghyuck. Not even Donghyuck shaped. 

"Not yet." He announces before even Donghyuck could ask. 

"Right. Just quit it, you're not gonna find me there even if you go through everything." 

He shrugs his shoulders and just continues to watch. Donghyuck goes on his way to fix the room for him as per usual. 

Mark figures he's close to his last customer for that night shift when Donghyuck talks to him again. He moves to sit beside Mark who is momentarily surprised by the proximity as the other has never sat so close to him before. Donghyuck picks up the box that's now on the floor and goes over them again with interest. 

"Let's play something else. Something that's not your boring convenience trip store." 

Mark knows there won't be anything else on the tape anyway so he indulges Donghyuck, grabs the box from him and picks a date he thinks could include something fun in it. Donghyuck initiates and puts it on for them to watch. 

 

The video starts out dark, a minute of just dark sky before a glimpse of the city lights comes on the screen, that, then a loud sound of a zooming car. Mark finally sees himself on the passenger of said car, his hair flown away by the wind, his head thrown back in mid-laugh, eyes crinkling and him shouting and shouting. Johnny is on the driver seat laughing along with him. This scene goes on for awhile, the two of them driving round in an area that is too quiet and empty to be Seoul. Johnny finally parks the car to the empty street side with Mark still shouting loud in the background. 

He finally remembers what day this is. It's that Friday night after his last day in his part-time job at the convenience store, the same Friday night when Johnny offered him to tag along with him on his trip back to Chicago, a night which he feared to believe was too good to be true. 

Mark sees himself scream 'YES OF COURSE HYUNG, I WANT TO' on the top of his lungs. The excited screams turn into a baffled expression, the doubt kicking in the next seconds as he goes to check if his Johnny hyung is playing a prank on him again or not. The doubt fades soon enough as Johnny keeps his smile directed at him with so much fondness, no bursting of the bubble, just a reminder to ask for his mom's permission first before they fly out the week after that. 

He takes a peek at Donghyuck's way to check his reaction to all of it - his endless excitement that night, him and Johnny's plan, and him in general in the most alive form yet. Before he could figure out what his expression meant though, Donghyuck seemed to have sensed him looking and broke the silence first for the both of them. 

"You looked like you were having a good time there." He says to him with a grin. 

Mark can remember how it had felt. Exhilarating. Beyond.  
"Yeah." He breathes out. "Every day during that time I wished for time to move faster so we could go and just leave."

Not that Seoul was stifling. He knew that it was with the best intentions for them to move back. _There's family here. It'll be easier for us to be in here._ He could recall his mother's voice clearly as he explained things to him as soon as they moved back and he started sulking. He's come to understand that and their situation. During that time though, he just really got excited about the thought of coming home. Maybe not to Canada really but Chicago's a lot closer to it than Seoul will ever be and he'd take that. 

Johnny turns the car engine's on and they begin another drive, the car slow then faster and faster as it takes speed. The both of them driving away in the city that's as quiet as a ghost.

 

"That was your thing huh, you and Johnny. Reckless driving?" Donghyuck asks all of a sudden as the scene pans out to a similar scene from the start, his voice void of any emotion. 

"It wasn't reckless." Mark tries to reason out. He knows and very well at that, that it wasn't the smartest but they weren't even drunk nor on drugs during all these rides. "It was just very-" 

"Fast driving." Donghyuck finishes it for him with a smirk. 

 

The clip goes on with more screams of joy from Mark. He's free, he's having a real fun time, he's what parents would use as an example of an 18 year old kid you shouldn't be friends with. 

"I guess I understand what you wouldn't risk to feel that alive." He hears Donghyuck murmur beside him after a while, the other now wearing a smile but not quite like the ones he has permanently as a Guardian. Not too happy either. 

The phone rings loud then at that moment, it's the first time it did since Mark got here. The ring going louder with every passing second it's left unanswered. Donghyuck urges him to pick it up. 

"It's from Heaven." He says certainly. "Maybe the news that you're here has reached your family there." 

 

Mark walks towards the dresser where it's currently placed and picks the phone up. On the other line, he hears his aunt who passed away a few years back, asking how he has been in such a warm and bright voice that reminds Mark of his mother. He tries to match the enthusiasm but feels like he's failed just from the first word alone. The call goes on, ending with his aunt telling him things he should be mindful about in the Middle so his passing can come sooner and how they, listing other family members' names one after another, can't wait to meet him there once he passes through. Mark hums an agreement and bids her goodbye before putting the phone down. 

When he looks back at his mini living area, it's all to realize Donghyuck has left for the night while he was on the phone, the tape they just watched already done and out of the player.

🛋

His relationship with Donghyuck, the ease of talking to him and hanging out with him despite the short period of time they've met could possibly raise questions for some but is nothing to be questioned for him. Mark comes at the conclusion last night before he fell asleep. He just puts it that they simply match. Him and his naiveness and Donghyuck and his rather snarky and direct attitude. Him and his ramblings and Donghyuck and his more fun side that peeks out when he forgets his guardianship duties and all. If he puts it, Donghyuck's a good friend and he's the perfect welcoming attendant, too much that sometimes perfect can't be enough of a word to describe him. 

 

"You're out of this world." Like this time as he hears himself blurt out as Donghyuck shows him that day's new place in the Middle. 

They're in what is called to be the Middle's Best Restaurant. They've been to a few others before, the ice cream parlor being his favorite of all but this one, this one beats every single thing he's been on, both dead and alive. 

The restaurant is a 5-star rated one topped with another outstanding interior - cream colored walls with maroon wall lining accents, big old silver chandeliers, patterned carpeted floor yet again. The hall is full of circular tables covered in floor length white and red damask table cloths, a low plant pot filled with hydrangeas and some candles sitting as centerpiece in every table in the area. There's live orchestra playing on the stage for entertainment, the bar looking stocked with varied concoctions ready for tasting. Waiters go around too, dressed in black and white suits holding trays of food and drinks for the hungry souls waiting for them. 

Mark is not hungry really in the physical sense. There's no more physical body to feed in here but when one has been accustomed to eating all their lives before this, it's hard not to at least _want_. 

 

"The best thing is that it comes at no charge. Free for all." Donghyuck tells him as one of the waiters guide them to a free table. 

They get to one that's close to the orchestra. The waiter hands them the menu and leaves them be for now. Donghyuck doesn't open his and just listens to the live music playing. When it's time for them to place their order, he tells his while Donghyuck just tells the waiter he wants a bottle of wine. 

"Not hungry?" He asks. 

"Well to tell you the truth, I'm not even supposed to be here but if I go you'd be lonely. Wouldn't want that right?" 

Mark just nods and smiles, turning to look at the orchestra. Taking it all in. If he would deduce the fact that all this came at the cost of his death, he'd say it's been a pretty neat life. Life at the Middle is what a privileged man on Earth lives like but better, so much better. For one, in here you can't die again because you're already the word itself.

 

"I wonder if you have enough to show me every day after this that'll last until I have to leave." He finds himself saying after dinner on their way back to his room. He feels too bloated, when the restaurant said it has big offerings, it really is big and sumptuous. He feels too heavy to roam around today and decides it best to just lay around. Donghyuck seems to be free today, coming along with him when he'd usually be out elsewhere doing work. 

Donghyuck grins at him before talking. "There will be." He moves fast to walk ahead of Mark, turning so he can see his face while still walking, hands on his pocket. Without the uniform, he's like any other soul. "If there won't be enough, I'll make something up." 

He must be tipsy on wine, Mark thinks although it's not possible but he indulges his thoughts nonetheless. "Yeah, you'd do that?" 

Donghyuck halts his walk and brings his hands up around his mouth and screams to everyone in the hallway "I'M THE EVALUATOR'S FAVORITE, I CAN DO WHAT I WANT." 

The souls pass by them with a laugh. Mark laughs too, dragging Donghyuck to his room and shuts it before many more will come and laugh at his guardian friend's antics.

He pours a glass of orange juice and makes Donghyuck drink it. Donghyuck taking it this time with no qualms and they're quiet for a while. 

"Let's watch something." Donghyuck finally says, no longer shouting but still very much enthusiastic, reaching for the remote but Mark gets to it first before he can. 

"I've ran out of tapes." He says. A little lie but maybe Donghyuck will believe him so they can do something else, talk some more. "Enough of that for today, let's talk." 

He's moved to lie down on the other side of the bed if that's what he'd call it given that it's a very small bed. Donghyuck is seated at the foot of the bed, his back facing him. 

"Tell me how you passed." 

Mark hasn't talked about it since the Grief period thinking Donghyuck lied when he acted like he knew what it was to milk more information about him. It's not one of Mark's proudest moments - his death and all the events leading up to that, but he doesn't really look at it too disdainfully.

It happened in Chicago, he starts telling Donghyuck that. It's from the same trip Johnny offered him and to be honest, things happened too fast for him to really recall everything to the last second. 

"We met some of Johnny hyung's friends and then the next thing I know, we were joining this underground drag race. It was all fun you know, like the same feeling from that clip I showed you before. And we earned money. Easy money. More than what I make in a week with my part-time job. So we went to it for the second night because what could we lose. In our heads, we lose nothing." 

"But you're a fool, Mark Lee." 

"Yeah." 

The room goes silent again after he's done talking. So he chooses to ask Donghyuck if he won't speak on his own. "You. Tell me about you." 

He's still turned back unabling Mark to see his face. "There's nothing to know. You know enough." 

Mark shakes his head, almost letting out a whine. "No, I don't. I don't even know where you used to live." 

Silence before Donghyuck starts: "You want to know.. I lived in Jeju most of my life. I was born in Seoul but we moved to Jeju when I was 5. I was the oldest child in the family with three younger siblings after me." Mark could see him look up to the ceiling, pondering for a while. "We lived a pretty comfortable life by the sea. My dad used to take me to the shore when I was younger and when I was old enough, I took my younger siblings there too. I had a lot of friends back in school ever since I started attending. Imagine me as a kid, I was very active, I was the most active one. People often said, I'd do well in life ---" 

Donghyuck takes a pause. When Mark moves to take a look at him, he could see his cheeks had gone wet, his mouth left ajar as if he said something he shouldn't. As if he was stung by a spell that he's finally gotten out of. 

Without another word, Donghyuck gets up and leaves, not even closing the door after him, not even turning around to explain what's happening and bid Mark goodbye.

🛋

The next morning Donghyuck doesn't come in his usual time and Mark is forced to spend the morning hour in silence as he gets ready to go out.

He goes down to the lobby first for the day and sees a pack of people huddled on the bulletin. 

"Excuse me, what's in there?" He asks one of the by-standers. He can't see much of what's posted aside from a sheet of bond paper pinned on the board. Its contents covered by heads from where he's standing.

"Oh. It's a list of people passing through this week." The stranger tells him before they push through the crowd to get in front and check. 

The Evaluator told him he's got a month time waiting during his screening. Could be shortened or extended depending on the circumstances, the Evaluator explained to him. Mark really hasn't thought much about it. It's hard to take note of the days when there really isn't a clock around nor a celestial sun to guide for gauging the time and passing of days. 

He waits for the crowd to clear up and checks the list if his name is there. So far, it isn't. 

He makes his way to the Archives after and picks up his tapes for the day. Then he heads back to his room to see if he can catch Donghyuck this time and surprisingly, he does. 

"You're back early." Donghyuck says to him, warm as always. Nothing really different if the past days except the day before were the usual. Still in his all green glory. 

"Was worried about you last night. Why'd you leave?" He asks as a start, hands together in front holding the tapes. 

Donghyuck breaks into a smile then lets out a sound that is almost like a chuckle. "Ah, I was out of it. Wine and all, sometimes it gets in your head even when you're dead. Your orange juice helped though." He points to the newly refilled pitcher on the coffee table. "You've heard more than enough of me though. Sorry I left without saying bye." Then he continues to clean up the rest of the room although Mark knows there's really nothing else to clean. 

"I haven't." He finds himself saying. 

"You haven't what?" 

"Haven't heard enough of you." He clarifies.

Donghyuck just breaks into a soft chuckle again. "Sure you do. You even knew a bit about my family." 

That's true. There are many things Mark wanted to know as he spent more and more time with Donghyuck. A natural thing in the occurrence of friendships. Not that purgatory or heaven is a place to meet and form rather ephemeral connections. Maybe even pointed as something you've had enough time to do back on Earth but still, it was something Mark can't shake off.

There were lots of questions which Donghyuck evidently refused to answer whenever asked. "How'd you even become a Guardian. I mean why." He ends up asking one before taking it back. "No, okay, you don't have to tell me." He shakes his head, leaves the tapes so he got something to do aside from standing. 

Donghyuck stares, dropping his hands to the side. He just stares before sighing. "Okay, okay I'll tell you so we can get this over and done with." 

"It's okay. You don't-" 

"I want to." 

Mark lets him take his time, standing and waiting for Donghyuck's words to seep out. Donghyuck moves to sit back on his bed. 

"I'm not gonna make this any longer. Now that you asked, I can't even put it into words that won't sound crazy or too shallow." He starts fiddling with his hands.

He takes his time to breathe before he begins again. "We were robbed of time back there Mark. Don't you ever think of that?" Donghyuck asks but not really needing an answer, his voice cracking in between the words. "There's a whole lot of people who live till they are a hundred. We went before we even got a quarter of that so what about ask for an extended time here, in a not so Earth but not quite heaven place?" 

"Heaven promises eternity?" Mark says, almost as a whisper feeling silly that he even said that out loud. To Donghyuck of all people, of all times. 

"I don't even know what's up there Mark. People, they tell you things and you're supposed to believe them. In heaven they say all you feel is light. I don't think I want that. Maybe most do and it's crazy how it doesn't feel like that to me at all. I wanna feel anger, annoyance, exhaustion. I want to feel excited, exhilarated, happy for a reason and not because it's heaven where everyone is supposed to feel like that." 

"Alive." Mark supplies. "You want to feel alive." 

The room is silent for a while before Mark decides to pour a glass of orange juice for Donghyuck to drink. "You need this?" 

"God, I hate this." Donghyuck laughs but takes it from Mark and drinks it down in one go.

🛋

Mark's daily routine goes on but somehow it's a little different. Mark still wakes up to Donghyuck coming in for the morning cleaning and they talk, more so this time. Sometimes just the old things, their interests and all. Sometimes it's personal, each of them sharing memories that can't quite be captured on film and put on tapes. 

Mark meets Jisung properly this time too. Meetings where Jisung shares stories from around the Middle since he got there a couple months earlier than Mark.

"Do you know why Donghyuck hyung decided to be a Guardian?" He asks Mark one time. 

He nods, not saying anything else. Then Jisung asks him something that mirrored what Donghyuck already said to him back in his room. He tells him, more as an opinion not needing to be agreed upon but just said aloud: "He's right though. We all lived a little too short." 

Before they separated that day, Mark took his chance to ask. "Is that why you're trying to be one too? A Guardian?" 

And Jisung just laughs, shakes his head. "If I get to be one then Donghyuck hyung won't be the youngest anymore." Running to get to his internship on time as he waves back to Mark.

 

The rest of the day goes the same but still a little different like everyday is Mark figures. He gets more calls from family, some even far far away from his immediate ones and whose names he's only heard from here. They sound delighted, fulfilled if he should call it. They mean well for him. 

These days he teases Donghyuck into coming to Heaven with him once he does. It all comes out as fun since they figured out they could talk about it without it causing a misunderstanding. Talking about it with more truth - the fact that adjusting to life after Earth takes time and a buddy to go through with it too. The talks usually happen during Donghyuck's tour for him in the Middle. 

"I'd miss this the most if I go." Donghyuck tells him as he opens the door. 

Mark has never been in this place before. Well, he only goes to the same places until he can't anymore really. A habit he's kept up here as well apparently. This room and whatever's behind it seems grander though, with the big and carved wooden door and Donghyuck's eyes gleaming with delight.

Donghyuck opens it slowly, pushing it hard the door looking more heavy than it actually looks from afar that Mark takes a second too long to realize that Donghyuck needs a hand on it. 

When they get to open it though, it's nothing but an empty ballroom. It has all the details that make the Middle look like a mid-century hotel but it's bare. The only things in place are the long overflowing ceiling to floor velvet red curtains covering the entire wall. The floor left too empty. 

Mark doesn't notice Donghyuck's gone until he's about to turn and compliment Donghyuck's most unforgettable place in a very diverse Middle and reassure his tastes as a kind of friend that he is but he finds him nowhere. 

He turns about 3 more times, stopping on corners to check until he spots him coming out from somewhere holding what looks like Mark's guitar on his hand. 

"Oops, didn't know I'd took long to get this." Donghyuck says handing him the guitar. He doesn't have his uniform on for the first time. The first time Mark sees him in casual clothing anyway. 

Mark looks at the thing in daze. It really is his guitar with all the stickers 11 year old Mark placed and kept for sentimental reasons. All the scratches, the little signature practice he did just in case he ever got famous. His guitar in all of its war and glory. "How'd you get this? Like.." 

Donghyuck just shrugs his shoulders at him. "Just a little sneaking and some rule breaking." 

Typical. As if it's an everyday thing he does.

"Pretty sure as a Guardian that's not advised." 

Domghyuck shrugs again. "I have to balance it out so I can keep staying here you know. Do things that might cause me Hell but act in my best behavior as a Guardian on duty, too good they won't send me there because I'm a big loss. Balance." 

Donghyuck is just unbelievable, he finds. Mark keeps finding more adjectives to describe him these days. 

Donghyuck runs to the wall of curtains and pushes a part of it aside, revealing the night sky, the moon - a crescent shaped thing shining with its yellow light across the vast sky. 

"Only place you can get this here. Beautiful right?" Donghyuck tells him with a smile.

And it is beautiful. Mark can remember so many nights after shift, after hanging out with Johnny, after late night school studying for the college entrance exams that he won't end up making use of. He remembers admiring the moon from afar. Now it doesn't look too far away from here. 

"Now play a song." Donghyuck urges him to. He's moved to lying on his side so that he's still facing Mark. 

"Now you're the one who's treating me a servant. Are you a rich asshole?" Mark says it as a joke, something that brings him back to his first day. Donghyuck turns silent though but with a grin he goes, "Maybe. Maybe that's why I'm here early." 

Mark wants to tell him no. That life is just maybe crazy. That maybe it's a flawed system that takes some people out by some mistake. That there's some reason behind all of it but he doesn't have anything to back it up with, not something quite believable for someone like Donghyuck anyway. It's hard to get around him and even once you do, it's always a work in progress. So instead, Mark sings him a song. It's all he has. It's all he ever had. That and a genuine heart. 

He sings and later in the night, Donghyuck sings with him too. 

 

Morning comes in a rather frenzy state. Donghyuck isn't there when he gets up again and he wonders why when just last night they had a really good time and Donghyuck hugged him goodnight for the first time. 

He goes out and finds every person (souls as he should call them) he comes across on his way is giving him a smile. Not that it is a rather bizarre situation, the souls do smile at him from time to time even if they're strangers, but it is pretty weird if it's everyone. 

He meets Jisung on the lift and the first thing he tells him is 'Congrats hyung!' 

"What for?" 

"Haven't you seen the bulletin?" 

In the bulletin, he finds a newly posted announcement and a crowd that's almost dissipating from checking. He goes over it and reads the headline one by one, checks the list name by name and finally sees his there near the bottom of the page: **_Lee "Mark" Minhyung - 1999.08.02_** in black bolded letters.

He's passing through. He's part of the ones who will later that day at the sound of a ringing bell. The last of the paper includes a note for the souls listed, to prepare all the things that they wish to bring upon seeing the note as they will leave minutes after the bell. 

Mark finds himself walking back to his room thinking he might catch Donghyuck there and he does. 

He's seated on the couch, legs crossed and ready to hit play. The tape that is in the player is unbeknownst to Mark and his collection. Donghyuck taps the space beside him for Mark and he takes it, laying his head down on Donghyuck's lap as the boy clicks play. 

It's Donghyuck when he was maybe 5 or 6 at the beach wearing only a floral swim shorts and a pair of inflatables around his arms. In this tape, Donghyuck's father seems to be the one recording as Mark hears his voice calling after Donghyuck as he runs towards the beach. The waves are crashing and Donghyuck's dad catches him before it could take him. 

 

"Not gonna lie, I had hopes you'd stay here with me." Donghyuck says first once they're done with the footage and once Mark's gotten himself convinced by Donghyuck that he needed to pack. 

"You said I was useless in here when you shoo-ed me away at the kitchen." He humors him one last time. He thinks to himself that maybe it'll last in another lifetime. 

Donghyuck helps him when he sees him taking too slow with his packing. They move hand in hand, finishing in time before the bell goes off, counting down the time until Mark's departure.

Donghyuck opens his arms wide for Mark to take his hug. He's warm. He's quiet when he tells Mark that it's okay that he's going. "It really is." Kissing Mark on the cheek before letting him go. 

"You can always change your mind and go there sometime. Maybe in the future." 

Mark's words returned with a smile and a hand squeeze. 

 

The ring goes off again. Donghyuck doesn't send him on his way to the lobby. He said: 

"I'm not your lover to send you away. Please." 

Mark only said "We could be. Imagine long distance boyfriends in Heaven." in return

Donghyuck only laughed at him and pushed him out of the door, shouting at him on the hallway one last thing, telling him that he'd be waiting for Mark's calls. Once he figures out how the telephones in there work anyway.

☁️☁️☁️

The first thing Mark sees in Heaven are pelicans and no, he hadn't expected any of this at all.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading!! i honestly feel like my stories' plot themes are repetitive (except this time i did it intentionally) but if this is ur first time in my acc, i hope u liked it even a little! and if ure a regular, i hope u still liked it?
> 
> anw happy dream comeback (dreamies going emo METAL?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!) if u like, check out my posters for my fics in [here ](https://satellite-loved.tumblr.com/ncity)too! i (try to) write some drabbles there as well. / [ twt ](https://twitter.com/ieekram)
> 
> thank u ♡


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